The French defender was forced to bide his time before breaking through in north London, but Mikel Arteta knew it would happen
If there was one player who could make the argument for loans being essential to a player’s future success, Arsenal star William Saliba would be the ideal candidate.
Back in 2021, the Frenchman was two years into his career at the Emirates Stadium and without a single senior appearance, despite making a high-profile £27 million switch from Saint-Etienne. Critics dissected this as a sign that Arteta didn’t rate Saliba; the truth was the exact opposite.
When Arsenal agreed to loan their budding centre-back to OGC Nice in Ligue 1, the Rivieria-based outfit wanted an option to buy included in the deal. Arsenal flatly refused to play ball and insisted a straight loan was the only way to get the deal done.
Unsurprisingly, no buy option was included in Saliba’s loan contract. If Nice wanted to sign the defender at the end of the season, then they’d have to mix it with everyone else.
It might not have been obvious at the time, but the fact Arteta insisted on there being no clause in the deal proves he saw a long-term future for Saliba at Arsenal. First, he sent him back to Saint-Etienne to get first-team experience, then Nice to gain confidence and finally, a Premier League loan to show he was ready.
A frustrated Saliba snubbed moves to Crystal Palace and Newcastle, instead choosing a third loan to France with Marseille. He responded by winning a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for the 2021/22 season.
“They [Arsenal] didn’t even tell me to come back during preseason. They told me to find a club on loan,” he told France Football. “Arsenal wanted me to go to Newcastle or Crystal Palace, but I didn’t want to.
“I remember that summer, it was either Lille or Marseille. I was very close to going to Lille, but there was a financial problem.”
Arteta had shown a brutal side to him before: ousting Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from his first team, stripping Granit Xhaka of the captaincy and parting company with Matteo Guendouzi. But with Saliba, there was a sense of finesse – waiting for the right moment to unleash him onto the world as an Arsenal player.
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At the time, Arteta felt the Covid pandemic had interrupted Saliba’s development. Despite the centre-back’s frustration at having to embark on another temporary move away from his club, he explained why he felt compelled to send him out on loan again.
“For many reasons, that wasn’t the transition year that he needed because he had a lot of injuries, some personal injuries and also with Covid and the French league getting cancelled, he didn’t have that year,” Arteta said.
“He needs that year of transition and we are trying to make the right decisions for him to give him the best transitional year for him to have the player we want in our future.”
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It’s fair to say that patience has paid dividends. Saliba is now rated as one of the best centre-backs in the world and without him striking up a solid partnership with Gabriel, Arsenal might not have won the Premier League last season.
His rise to prominence is reflected in his starting spot in the France team. It took a while for Saliba to win over Didier Deschamps but at 25, he is now viewed as an indispensable part of Les Bleus’ squad with 34 caps.
Besides his reputation as a world-class operator, there is some method to placing him alongside Dayot Upamecano for their Group I showdown with Norway on Friday. Erling Haaland will be lurking in the box, desperate to add to his four-goal tally at the World Cup as he chases the Golden Boot and a surge into the latter stages of the competition.
Saliba has duelled with the towering Norwegian for the last four seasons in the Premier League when Arsenal have taken on Manchester City and their battles have been nothing short of fascinating. Now Haaland is being fed by his Arsenal team-mate Martin Odegaard, and Saliba will be keen to take away their lunch money.
Deschamps will be relying on Saliba embracing that personal vendetta – even if it’s not as strongly-fuelled as Gabriel’s – to prevent Haaland from causing problems for the 2018 world champions. Sealing top spot in Group I will put them on a much more rewarding path at this World Cup and a draw will guarantee that.
Five years ago, Saliba was just one in a group of players at Arsenal and wasn’t really on France’s radar at all. Now, he is the one they both look to, to lead them in games of great magnitude, and Arteta can hang his hat on playing a major part in influencing that.
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